


Messenger

by Raaj



Category: Bravely Default (Video Game) & Related Fandoms
Genre: ...koma asked for angst, Bravely Second Spoilers, Gen, I obliged, dimensional officers/planeswardens involved, it won't make sense, seriously don't read if you haven't played the yoko sidequest
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-31
Updated: 2017-07-31
Packaged: 2018-12-09 03:09:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 867
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11660376
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Raaj/pseuds/Raaj
Summary: It was a rare quiet day in Eternia's Central Command when Edea was told Tiz had come to visit.She doesn't much like what he has to say.





	Messenger

The first thing Edea asked when she saw Tiz was, "Where's Agnès? Where are the babies? You can't just visit without bringing the babies!" Tiz made a small expression of surprise at her indignation, and she quickly leaned over the ornate carving of the table in the guest hall to show how serious she was. "Tiz. Arrior. You cannot just waltz into my country without your wife and the babies. I love you, but I am the Grand Marshal of Eternia now, and I demand my tribute of cuteness."

After a moment of blinking up at her, seeming still surprised, Tiz smiled wanly. "I'm glad to see you're well, Edea. Could we talk in private, please?" He glanced over her shoulder, to the guards standing in the room.

Edea blinked, nonplussed by his request, but the guards really weren't needed--standard protocol, but hardly necessary for a meeting between friends--so she turned to face them, clearing her throat for the attention she'd already had from them. (She _still_ wasn't quite used to everyone snapping to attention from her merely entering a room; it made her look around for her father.) "Dismissed!"

The guards left. As soon as the door closed, she whirled back on Tiz. "Is something wrong? I mean, we're friends, you're always welcome, but it's a little weird you came all this way alone."

Tiz took a deep breath. "You're right. It is a little strange. Edea...could you sit down, please? I need to tell you something."

She hesitated. Tiz, serious, no Agnès, no babies, needed to cross the ocean to talk about something that couldn't just be a letter. She felt tensed now.

She pulled out a chair and sat down. Tiz smiled gratefully.

"I'm from the Planeswardens, Edea. Sorry to disappoint you about... I suppose your world's Tiz is married with children? Sounds nice..." Tiz's face was mostly pleasant, but there was just a shade of bitterness. That passed quickly enough, though. If she had to describe the feeling she got from the man's face, it would be a gentle sadness. "I hate lying, but I had to make sure I could tell you this in person. It's about Ringabel."

Edea revised her previous summary of the situation. Tiz, serious, no Agnès, no babies, needed to cross dimensions and pose as--technically himself, but even he was counting it as someone else, so she'd count it too--as someone else to talk about something that couldn't just be a letter.

No. That was still wrong.

Tiz, serious, needed to cross dimensions and pose as someone else to talk to her about Ringabel. Couldn't just be a letter. Needed to cross _dimensions_. Broke Planeswardens' secrecy. Because he needed to talk about Ringabel.

No Ringabel.

Edea sucked in a breath, pushing her chair back six inches. She looked on both sides of Tiz, hoping that she just hadn't seen Ringabel yet, that he was hiding to make a showy entrance. But no--she didn't see anything.

No Ringabel.

Tiz continued as soon as she looked back at him, his voice calm. "Ringabel was reported dead on his last mission. It was a world in which the Glanz Empire had managed to use the time-space compass, with unfortunate results due to it being used incorrectly. The world was falling apart, and Ringabel--"

"Is there a body," Edea asked. She didn't know why she asked that, when she was already mostly sure what the answer would be. Mostly she'd just wanted Tiz to shut up and stop saying something so awful and wrong.

He did shut up, at least for a few seconds. He closed his mouth, looking at her with kindness, with gentleness, with sympathetic eyes, and she wanted him to stop that because she didn't _need_ that, he was wrong. And then he answered, his voice soft, but pat. "It's not always possible to recover a body."

And he would know best about that, wouldn't he? Most of the bodies from Norende would never be recovered.

"I'm sorry. On behalf of all the Planeswardens--we're so sorry, Edea. Ringabel was a good man, and--"

"You can stop. I don't need you telling me things I already know," Edea said, covering her face. She could guess the pat phrases--'good man', 'dedicated service', 'died honorably'. He would say them with all sincerity, because he was Tiz, of course he would mean it, but she _didn't want to hear it_. "You can go now."

"...Alternis is just outside the doors. I asked him to be nearby in case you needed someone."

" _Oh_. Alternis. Wonderful choice," Edea said, and she immediately hated that, she knew Tiz was only the messenger and he was trying his best, but really? Alternis? The man who was identical to Ringabel? "I'm sorry. Just go. Just _please go_."

He left. He reached out as he passed her, very tentatively, to put a hand on her shoulder, but she gave no reaction and he left quickly afterward, Alternis rushing in soon behind, already worried for her. He knew what this had been about, then.

Death notification. It was so apparent in hindsight. Even the planeswardens knew it needed to happen in person.


End file.
